Margaret Mason, KC
Of Counsel
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Related services and key industries
Biography
Margaret Mason is a charities lawyer with more than 30 years of experience advising donors, charities and other tax-exempt organizations and their boards, often on highly sensitive and complex matters. In addition to advising on gift plans, incorporations, charitable registration, governance, fundraising and Canada Revenue Agency audit matters, she helps clients consider operational structures that allow them to navigate complex legal and regulatory environments particularly regarding the creation of multi-use affordable housing projects, social enterprises and international development. She has worked extensively with healthcare, environmental, sport and housing organizations.
She speaks and teaches widely in the areas of governance, regulatory compliance and board skill development.
Professional experience
Collapse all- British Columbia 1986
Ms. Mason has been involved in the following matters:
- Incorporation, structuring advice and ongoing counsel to the Aqueduct Foundation, a public foundation that facilitates planning of significant philanthropic gifts using donor-advised funds
- Advising the Vancity Community Foundation, a public foundation that makes grants to charitable organizations, with an innovative focus on affordable housing and homelessness, community asset building and social enterprise
- Incorporation, charitable registration and ongoing counsel to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which supports community-level organizations that are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa by providing care and support to women, orphans, grandmothers and people living with HIV and AIDS
- Chambers Canada, Nationwide: Charities/Non-profits, Chambers and Partners, 2018-2023
- Best Lawyers in Canada: Charities/Non-profits Law, Corporate Governance Practice, Trusts and Estates, 2006-2023
- Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2016-2022: recommended in Corporate Mid-Market, Corporate Commercial Law; 2018-2021: recommended in Forestry Law
- Acritas Stars 2019-2021 – Designated as an "Independently rated lawyer"
- Chambers High Net Worth Guide, 2018: Private Wealth Law - Canada
- Chambers Canada: Recognized as a leading lawyer in the area of Private Client (2017)
- Chambers High Net Worth Guide: Recognized as a leading lawyer in the area of Private Client (2016)
- Best Lawyers in Canada: Trusts and Estates "Lawyer of the Year," 2014
- LexisNexis - Martindale-Hubbell: BV Peer Review Rated
- Canadian Association of Gift Planners: Recipient of the Friend of CAGP Award
- Chair, Imagine Canada
- Treasurer, BC Law Institute
- Past chair, Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
- Chair, 2010 Games Operating Trust
- Past chair, Government Relations Committee, Canadian Association of Gift Planners
- Past-chair, National Charities Section, Canadian Bar Association
- Secretary-treasurer, Saint Mary’s Health Foundation of New Westminster
- Trustee, David Spencer Trust
- Member, Technical Issues Working Group, Charities Directorate, Canada Revenue Agency
Insights
Helping Canada’s charities and NFP sector turn the tide during the pandemic
Webinar | April 01, 2021
Update on gifts of life insurance policies to charities in British Columbia
Publication | May 8, 2020